Tequila’s birthplace gives the drink a whole new spin…
I’M drinking Tequila for the first time in years, as fingers of blazing Mexican sun poke down between the swaying branches of a shady tree. I can’t quite believe that I’m sipping firewater on the lawn outside a picture postcard 150 year-old hacienda – a Mexican manor house – as I eat a splendid lunch of tortilla soup, taquitos, quesadillas, barbecued chicken and guacamole. Because this isn’t how it’s supposed to be with tequila, is it?
Rewind over a decade to the last time I drank this much tequila in one go, and things were slightly different. The student me could barely cultivate a beard, barely manage a feeble chat-up line, and barely afford to buy a beer. The only way round that was Leeds University’s highly disreputable (and totally unofficial) weekly Tequila Night, where shots of the hard stuff were £1 and a snog was a racing certainty. That said, a 2AM vomiting fit up against a handsome Victorian civic building was equally likely.
THE TRIP
Yes, most of us associate tequila with debauched nights on the tiles and mediocre margaritas. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I took a trip to Jalisco state, Western Mexico’s rising capital of gastro-tourism, where you can eat delicious food, discover rich history and have your preconceptions about tequila turned on their head.
Jalisco state is where the conquistadors who pillaged their way through New Spain stumbled upon fields and fields of agave plants – they look like cacti, but in fact they’re distantly related to the lily. A giant pine cone under the prickly leaves was the basis for an alcoholic concoction that the native peoples drank at religious festivities. The Spaniards worked out how to cultivate the agave plants and how to distill a strong spirit from it.
That drink began to be mass-produced in the 1800s and eventually exported to the US and Europe. Some called it Mexican brandy or Mexican whisky, but the name of the tiny town where all the distilleries were centred was the name that stuck – Tequila.
TEQUILA TOWN
My time on the tequila trail takes me to this gorgeous and affluent little town where crumbling old buildings are interestingly juxtaposed with young Mexicans sitting outside cafes using netbooks to listen to the latest dance music. So near to the US and yet steeped in the past, Mexico has a rich mix of cultures.
I take a tour round the homes of the two big boys of the tequila world – Sauza and Jose Cuervo. These are the brands that people recognise the most overseas and the trips round both distilleries turn me into an instant tequila expert. Each tour is rather touristy, detailing the manufacturing process of the drink and the history of the company. It’s a worthwhile way to spend an hour, but the real pleasure comes, of course, in tasting – and with each sip I begin to tell my blanco (young tequila) from my anejo (aged).
CASA HERRDURA
But it’s the Casa Herradura (Spanish for horseshoe) hacienda that impresses – and not just the lunch I enjoy in guilt-inducing neo-colonial splendour. This historic hacienda is in Amititan, just outside Tequila town and in a quieter spot. The old buildings have been preserved – including a hidden chapel where people would shelter and pray during the turmoil of the 1910 Mexican Revolution.
The old ways of making tequila persist here too – they are more prissy about their product and so from what I can tell, Herradura’s offerings are exemplary. Reuben Aceves Vidrio, the Casa’s English-speaking marketing man, evangelises about this powerful tipple. He’s on a one-man mission to tell the world that tequila doesn’t have to be horrible, and he urges me to go forth and spread the word to Britons brought up on the nastiest exports.
As I sit in the sun on Herradura’s patio, sipping the smoothest tequila I’ve ever tasted (mixed into a delicious margarita flavoured with tamarind) I begin to see Aceves Vidrio’s point.
MEXICO’S TEQUILA STATE
THE TEQUILA TRAIL
“The government want this road to be like Route 27 in Napa,” Casa Herredura’s Reuben Aceves Vidrio tells me as we speed along the bumpy highway from Guadalajara to Tequila and Amititan. Plans are afoot to build resorts galore along here, so get to Jalisco before the tourists do. Driving this road is an easy introduction to the Mexican countryside, bronze rolling hills and roadside outdoor cafes serving super-size margaritas to sweating drivers in ceramic mugs that you can take away with you as a souvenir. Once you get to the town of Tequila, stroll the old streets and be dazzled by the brightly painted houses and quaint colonial square that the Conquistadors built to remind them of their home villages on Spain.
GUADALAJARA
My base for this trip was Guadalajara. Mexico’s second city, and it’s a far cry from the crime-filled streets of Culiacan, Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez. There aren’t mines filled with the bodies of dead drug dealers here. It’s a flourishing financial and tech centre that sometimes looks like somewhere in California – if you squint for long enough. Yet it has the charm of a historic centre with churches and houses from the Spanish period.
Guadalajara has the best hotels and restaurants in the region – so it’s worth staying here. UNESCO has listed the whole Tequila area as a World Heritage Site, and tourism is set to shoot up round here in the years to come as resort hotels, visitor centres, inns, restaurants and shops are all on the drawing board.
Guadalajara is also the home of mariachi, and in many of the bars in town you can watch elaborately dressed mariachi bands and dancers putting on a show for the swaying throngs.
WHERE TO STAY
NH Hotel
The modern and minimalist NH Guadalajara represents rich new-money Mexico – it’s in the swishest district of Guadalajara where people drive souped-up Jeeps into Scarface-style mansions surrounded by razor wire. It’s a safe neighbourhood – there’s an al fresco bar and the hotel is one block from Wall Street, a run of local bars. The high tower rooms give great views across all of Jalisco. Rooms from $103. Nh-hotels.com
WHERE TO STUFF YOURSELF
Santo Coyote
Santo Coyote in Guadalajara is touristy, but who cares? It’s upmarket, fun, and the food is very good. Yes, they have mariachi bands and traditional dance to entertain you as you eat, but the lovely open courtyard, Mexican Malbec wines, and fusion food win the day. Try guacamole made fresh at your table, frijoles, steak or perch with pesto and peppers.
Santocoyote.com.mx
WHERE TO STAGGER
La Tequila
I ate deep-fried worms (not very tasty) and pork taquitos (very tasty indeed) and drank cold beers at the swishest hang-out in Guadalajara, La Tequila. It has a delectable roof terrace, mixes a fine mimosa and serves excellent Mexcian brews like Pacifico and Modelo too. Look out for the wine cellar beneath a see-through floor by the front door.
Latequila.com
HOW TO GET THERE
Getting to Guadalajara offers interesting choices for a stopover, depending on the time you have.
BA offers flights via New York. From there it’s on to partner Mexicana’s plane to Monterrey and a quick change to Guadalajara. This is the route I took, with prices starting around £600.
Mexicana fles direct from Gatwick to Mexico City, followed by an internal flight to Guadalajara.
You could also go via American Airlines’ Latin American hub at Miami and then Mexico City to Guadalajara.
Mexicana.com.mx, BA.com, AA.com